BitSnark

In the grand tradition of annual updates to their WWE licensed franchise, THQ has today unveiled this year’s iteration of the series, Smackdown Vs Raw 2011.

Not much in the way of specifics have been released regarding the title, but one new feature which THQ is keen to harp on about is the new destructive physics system that foreign objects and weapons now enjoy. In previous titles, if you have wanted to for instance say, chokeslam someone through a table that you weren’t stood ontop of yourself, you would be greeted by an shoddy looking animation which would awkwardly move the table out of the way, even if you thought you were bang on target.

With this year’s game however, any objects left around inside or outside the ring can be dynamically interacted with. For example, set up a table next to the turnbuckle and you can suplex them through it from the top rope with splinters flying and chunks of table being left behind. Change that table for a ladder and the suplex basically crunches the back of your foe across the hard steel as they crumple up in pain on the mat, leaving the ladder bent and contorted where the impact took place.

There are seemingly a multitude of different applications that objects can now have and only a few of them were shown in the GameSpot preview video (linked at the end of this article), so it’ll be very interesting to see what other fiendish things you can dream up and do and is certainly a big step in the right direction when it comes to trying to mirror the ad-hoc brutality of ladder matches, table matches and so on.

There are obviously a raft of other new features that THQ can’t talk about yet and so for the rest of it, tune into the THQ presentation at E3.

Smackdown Vs Raw 2011 is expected to release this year and will arrive on the PS3, 360, NDS, PSP, PS2 and the iPhone.

When it comes to adapting Jurassic Park into a videogame you would be forgiven for thinking that a perfect genre fit for running away from angry dinos would be survival horror right?

Japanese developer Capcom certainly thought so when they made Dino Crisis. Well, Telltale Games think you and Capcom are wrong.

The developers of the Sam & Max and Tales Of Monkey island episodic series’ are applying their considerable talents to adapting Jurassic Park into an episodic adventure, one that will include lots of puzzle solving, chatting to folks and probably not much in the way of actually shooting ravenous Velociraptors in the face.

No release date or platforms have been given as of yet, but as is always the case recently, we’ll more than likely hear more at E3?

I’m not sure if the puzzle and dialog based games that Telltale Games have traditionally honed their craft with is a perfect fit for the franchise, but either way i’ll be interested to see what they come up with.

A few hours ago, the interwebs got a look at live action teaser for a Mortal Kombat project of some sort.

I say of ‘some sort’ since it’s not entirely clear at this point whether or not it’s a live-action teaser for the forthcoming Mortal Kombat 9 or a marketable promo reel for Warner Brother’s game-to-film adaptation.

The former seems to be most likely scenario, simply because live action skits seem to be all the rage for big games these days (See Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, Assassins Creed and FEAR 3 for proof of this). Indeed, star Michael Jai White who plays ‘Jacks/Jax’ in the short, was under the impression that it was being shot to market a forthcoming game.

Either one is an intriguing however, since the style of the short suggests a Mortal Kombat universe more grounded in reality than it traditionally has been in the past and as a result, it would be interesting to see how it would translate into a videogame.

As a film, the seven-esque stylings shown in the short would represent a unique and refreshing approach than the cheesy, techno music flooded installments that have been released so far. Whichever way you slice it though, this is some quality live action Mortal Kombat footage that washes clean the previous live-action adaptations that fans have had to suffer through.

Well, Almost.

A link to the trailer in glorious 1080P ‘o’ vision is below:

Hopefully we’ll know the truth at E3, where Mortal Kombat 9 is expected to make it’s debut.

Okay, whoa there boy, whoa *tries to keep inner fanboy in check*.

I have some good news, Yakuza 3 apparently did well enough in the West to warrant Sega bringing Yakuza 4 over here too.

This is quite frankly, ass-shatteringly awesome news.

Boasting similar gameplay to Yakuza 3, the fourth installment in Sega’s popular (see, I can say that now) allows players to assume four different Yakuza members instead of just the series’ hero, Kazauma Kiryu.

For all of you who supported Yakuza 3 when it was thought it would never get a release, give yourself a pat on the back.

More details will be revealed at E3 where the game is expected to get it’s first Western showing.

Cannot. Wait.

In other news however, I hope this bodes well for the recently announced PSP installment of the Yakuza series.

With any luck that’ll find it’s way to our shores too.

Square-Enix today have announced Dungeon Siege 3 for release across PC and console platforms.

It shall be developed by Obsidian Entertainment with supervision given by Chris Taylor, the original Dungeon Siege developer from developer Gas Powered Games.

Obsidian Entertainment eh? What a bunch of busy dudes they are, what with Espionage RPG Alpha Protocol being released and Fallout: New Vegas being worked on for release later on this year.

There is a press release currently out for it, but its in French so i’ll upload an English one as soon as it appears.

Interesting.

Ok, this isn’t gaming news but sod it, this is just plain freakin’ cool. Warner Brothers have announced that they are producing a new Thundercats TV series, with Japanese animators Studio 4C (Animatrix, Gotham Knight, Halo Legends) being given animation and art duty.

The link below will take you to the first piece of concept art for the forthcoming series (looks nice and edgy – a good look for the new series):

http://uk.tv.ign.com/articles/109/1094318p1.html

The TV series apparently retells the entire Thundercats story, with everything from Lion-O’s ascension to the throne all the way through to their adventures and conflicts on Third Earth.

Bring this the heck on!

Following the announcement that their DSi handheld would be slashed in price in both the US and Japan, Nintendo has today confirmed that UK folk will experience a similar price drop too on June 18th.

Presumably this is being done in preparation for the 3DS; stimulating sales of the current model to maximise return before the gaming audience as a whole makes the jump to the 3DS.

The price drop is estimated to be between £20-£30 and is applicable to all DSi models, including the recently released DSiXL SKU.

Renowned RTS developer of the Total War series, Creative Assembly, is apparently readying an unveiling of it’s forthcoming undisclosed entry in the Total War series, Shogun II: Total War.

Via gaming website Kotaku, comes the leak that a Turkish gaming website was pencilled in for an exclusive interview with Sega concerning Shogun II: Total War.

Oops.

This chimes in with comments made previously by the developer which insisted that they would be ‘returning to their roots’ with the next iteration in the Total War franchise and would be a prudent move by the developer; especially when you consider how successful their previous sequel, Medieval II: Total War has been.

More at E3 I would wager.

The Portuguese arm of gaming website Eurogamer is reporting that Bandai Namco has announced that Tekken 7 is now in pre-production.

Only an announcement was given, no other details such as platforms or other specifics were provided.

Well that was certainly quicker than last time. Sony today have confirmed that PS1 Square-Enix RPG Final Fantasy IX, will arrive on PSN tonight for £7.99.

Final Fantasy IX can be downloaded and played on PS3 or PSP.